‘Not in my lifetime’: Chinese swimming rival’s ‘crazy’ final act
China’s new superstar is leaving the Olympics after dropping one final bomb that has the world speaking out.
Chinese superstar Pan Zhanle is heading home after dropping one final bomb at Paris’ La Defense Arena.
The 100m Olympic champ dominated the pool and the headlines this week after stamping himself as the present - and future - of the sport and adding some spice with pointed claims against Aussie champ Kyle Chalmers.
Shattering his own world record in the 100m freestyle and smashing Chalmers by more than one second, Pan dropped jaws again on Monday morning (AEST) to set the fastest 100m relay split of all time.
Pan, who is celebrating his 20th birthday, single-handedly carried China to the gold medal in the men’s 4x100m medley relay with a barely-believable split of 45.92.
The photos below show Pan jumped into the water a full body length behind France and the United States and was down by 0.75 seconds at the final change.
Pan’s swim was enough to win by 0.55 seconds.
His performance comes as international competitors begin to speak out against China’s controversial swim team, which headed into the Paris Games under a doping cloud.
US anti-doping authorities have led the charge with accusations world anti-doping body WADA covered up breaches by members of the Chinese swim squad.
The New York Times in April reported 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) at a domestic competition in late 2020 and early 2021 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
The swimmers were allowed to compete after China’s anti-doping body found that they consumed food that had been contaminated.
Pan is not among the 23 swimmers in the report, but it’s seen his historic performances tainted by suspicion.
His superhuman swim on Monday morning has only poured fuel on the fire - and now British swim champ Adam Peaty has joined the public backlash against China.
Peaty’s relay team was only good enough to finish fourth.
“In sport, one of my favourite quotes I’ve seen lately is: ‘There’s no point in winning if you don’t win it fair’,” he said.
“You know that truth in your heart. Even if you touch and you know you’re cheating, you’re not winning, right? So, for me, if you’ve been on that and you have been contaminated twice, I think as an honourable person it means you should be out of the sport. We know sport is not that simple.”
China had its best ever result in the pool, walking away with 12 medals.
Pan and stalwart Zhang Yufei were the biggest stars.
Butterfly ace Zhang was reportedly among the 23 swimmers found to have tested positive for a banned substance and admitted it had been stressful in France.
“I competed very well with friends from different countries, now I come to participate in the Olympic Games I am very worried that my good friends look at me with (suspicious) eyes and they do not want to compete with me,” she said.
“I am worried that French people think that Chinese athletes do not deserve to stand on this stage.”
In fact, fans at La Defense Arena were respectful, greeting Chinese athletes with applause.
Zhang, who again anchored the team, urged any doubters to look at the details of the case.
“Each one of us was tested 20 to 30 times in two months, three to four times a week on average,” she said, noting none were positive.
World Aquatics data released days before the Games showed Chinese swimmers in Paris — including 11 of the 23 embroiled in the doping scandal — had been tested at least 10 times since the beginning of the year.
Including tests conducted by other organisations, Chinese swimmers were tested on average 21 times - far more than any other nation.
It wasn’t enough, however, to silence the critics when Pan swam an extraordinary 46.40sec to shatter his own 100m freestyle world record.
But the manner of the win sparked an angry response from Australian Olympian-turned swimming coach Brett Hawke, who mentored Brazil’s Cesar Cielo — the first man to break 47 seconds.
“I’ve studied speed. I understand it. I’m an expert in it, that’s what I do,” he said on Instagram.
“You don’t beat those guys by one full body length in 100 freestyle. That’s not humanly possible.”
Aussie former world champion James Magnussen also spoke about what a game-changing swim Pan produced in the relays.
“My whole career I was trying to break 47 seconds,” he said on the Matty and Missile Podcast.
“We all were. That was the goal. I didn’t think in my lifetime that I would see someone swim 45 seconds.
“For most average people that’s a lap. He does two laps. He doesn’t decelerate. He holds that pace the whole time.
“It’s insane what he does. I can only imagine what fame and commercial opportunities that are going to become available to him in China. He’s going to become the top of that country’s entire sporting identity.”
Chalmers, meanwhile, has taken the blow on the chin.
“The goalposts have been shifted, it’s not about swimming 46.9 any more,” he said on Monday.
“I’m already training so hard, but I’m going to have to train even harder now to be competitive with them.”
with AFP
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